And at 8, he is celebrating five years since his last bone marrow transplant.

It was his third such transplant surgery, a response to the leukemia Dalton fought for four years.

“I think it’s pretty awesome I beat cancer,” he says.

The Bessemer City boy also thought it was pretty awesome to kick up his heels on a playground on a recent Saturday.

Dalton’s mother, Angel Cureton, organized a dinner for family and friends at a local civic center.

Men gathered around a gas grill outside, cooking hot dogs and hamburgers.

Dalton, in an orange T-shirt emblazoned with the word “survivor,” ran around playground equipment at Cloninger Park with his buddies. They’re things Dalton couldn’t enjoy for four years because of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

For the second-grader, just getting together with friends his age is a treat. They play cards and video games.

When he gets home from school, he can’t wait to meet the neighborhood kids outside.

“When I was in the hospital, I’d think of them,” he said.

Dalton plays baseball and soccer now.

Next on his list is learning to swim.

Cureton hopes her son’s health continues to improve. He still reports for checkups and occasionally experiences side effects from previous health treatments. He’s undergone neurological testing and Cureton is grateful that he’s doing well in school.

“It’s from the radiation and the chemo but he still struggles a little bit. But he’s starting to catch up,” she said.